HAMA07(Iwaki-city)：The Faces of Recovery(HAMA、NAKA、AIZU！）

Continuing on from the last article where we visited Futami-ga-ura.

3 years have passed since the disaster. Gazing at the quiet, calm ocean, it is hard to imagine what it was like when the tsunami struck. 

However just like the Hisanohama area which we visited on the JET tour, if you take a few steps back from the sea, traces of the tsunami are abundant.

We stayed at a lodge located along the coastline.　

One of the workers there, was kind enough to provide us with a lot of information.　

On the 3rd of March, 2011, an evacuation order was given shortly after the earthquake. Due to the decision to evacuate immediately, and also the lay of the land, there were no casualties amongst the residents of the Futami-ga-ura coastal area.

Just across the street from the lodge we were staying were the foundations of houses that had been completely destroyed by the tsunami.

At the time the lodge was also flooded, and afterwards it took 3 months work just to clean the place.

Half a year after the disaster, the lodge resumed business, and the Futami-ga-ura coast was reequipped, returning to the state we saw it in when visiting.

I thought that no matter how deep the wounds are, with time they will heal. Time is needed to recover, and the ideal is to return things to how they were before.　

'Actually, we won't be able to continue business after this year'

I couldn't help but be surprised to hear this statement from the worker we had befriended.

'One of the recovery programs involves building a 10 metre tall breakwater along the coast here. In addition to that all the locals here have to move, so a windbreak forest can be planted.'

We didn't know what to say.

'It's said that the tsunami was one in a million, but more could occur in the future. Of course it is most important to protect the lives of the people living here.' she said, showing understanding of the local recovery programs.

'But we won't be able to see this view much longer, and the surfers will have to find another place to go...' she said ruefully, as someone who loves Futami-ga-ura.

'Recovery' to return residents lives to the way they were.

'Recovery' taking the 'bigger picture' into account where some form of sacrifice has to be made.

These different faces of 'recovery' make up part of the struggle of the disaster rebuild.

This struggle shows the importance of the recovery work, and the noble aims of those entrusted with it.

I have the utmost respect for all of those involved in Fukushima's recovery.